Sunday, April 29, 2012

We are all familiar with stories of men cheating women, and women turning avengers.

Does 22FK tell an unusual tale?

22FK is a surgical operation. The movie has been packaged well, using contemporary idiom and stereotypes to the hilt.

Bangalore has been the Sodom for average Malayali mind and the Christian nurse from Kottayam is always ready for a bargain on bed.

Nurses are ambitious but who is not? Teachers, call centre workers, politicians, movie directors and all of us are ambitious and would go to any step to succeed.

The movie has been regarded as feminist and fuels empowerment of women.As a man I have no problem with that. Being a man is no licence to rape. And 'sexually' virgin is a concept too tribal. So who cares whom did you sleep with last night?

There are, however, other troubles. The prominent among them is love. A visa would come by, albeit a bit late, but not love. Rima Kallingal's character makes the folly of searching for love when she should have been packing her bags. There, she cut a deal. And a deal could go either way. Having said this, revenge is the right of everyone, man or woman.

The meek, after all, do not inherit the earth.

The other problem is not with the movie as such but movie watchers. More than one woman have told me that Rima Kallingal's character should not have done what she did to her lover.

Why? It is not realistic, said one. In real life Rima would not have been able to pull it off. May be, may be not.

And finally, for every Tessa, there is at least one Jincy who could handle the beast called love and its pimps, including you and me.

About Me

John Cheeran is an engineer-turned-journalist and has worked in such diverse media as Print, Internet and Radio. Cheeran has an abiding interest in cricket and its politics, and in politics in general.
Cheeran quit an Indian arm of the US-based global giants General Electric in 1994 to join Asian College of Journalism. He then went on to write on sports, and mainly on cricket, for newspapers such as The Indian Express, The Asian Age, The Pioneer and www.timesofindia.com in India. Cheeran also had a seven-year stint with Gulf News in Dubai.
He also wrote regularly for regional publications including Malayala Manorama and Deshabhimani during his student days.
During his career, Cheeran has reported a string of national and international tournaments including the 1999 Cricket World Cup held in England, the annual Dubai Desert Classic Golf Championship and Dubai Tennis Championship in Dubai, the ICC Champions Trophy in Dhaka, the Independence Cup Cricket Championship in India, Asian Test Championship and a number of Davis Cup ties in India. Now, Cheeran is an adjunct faculty at Online Media Centre in Chennai.